Libya: Another False Dawn?

Crude production is just over 200,000 b/d with almost all export terminals still shut-in. The hapless provisional government remains unable to prevent a plethora of interest groups taking the oil sector hostage. A mooted deal could end blockades of key eastern terminals by Sunday, but it is too early for optimism.

The stalemate that has brought Libya’s oil industry to its knees could end after a prominent tribal leader announced that exports could resume from shut-in terminals in the east. Salih al ‘Ataiwish, who heads the powerful Magharba tribe that launched the blockage in July, said on 10 December that strikers would leave the terminals on Sunday. His statements were backed by Ibrahim al-Jathran, a leading figure in the Cyrenaica secessionist movement that is looking to exploit the strikes to its political ends.

“We expect that the export of crude from the oil terminals will resume from 15 December,” Mr ‘Ataiwish told the press on Tuesday. (CONTINUED - 1910 WORDS)